Chapter 7: The Scholar Gentleman

Luo Jiaorong could not suppress her excitement.

It was the joy of "hoping one's younger brother becomes a dragon," the exhilaration of finally holding one's head high.

Li Zhengshan was also very happy and proud.

"Datou, Zhuzi, the boss said last time he'd treat you to drinks, right? Let's go tonight! No, tonight won't work, I have to get home early tonight to celebrate for my scholar brother-in-law! Hahahaha..."

"Boss, stop laughing, go back and laugh later, come stand guard, the officials are coming out!"

"Oh, oh, oh!"

Li Zhengshan hurriedly greeted the siblings Luo Jiaorong and Luo Zijun, then grinned and squeezed his way out of the crowd.

"Aunt Wang, Aunt Wang! Where is the red envelope? Where is that two-tael silver red envelope of yours? Hurry up and give the scholar red envelope to your nephew Zijun!"

Luo Jiaorong was still smugly pulling on Aunt Wang, demanding the red envelope.

Aunt Wang was filled with shame and had nowhere to hide; she hurriedly covered her head, rolled her eyes, and said, "Ouch! Ouch! My head is so dizzy, my old ailment is acting up again, I need to go home and take medicine! I can't hear anything, I can't hear anything at all..."

Having said that, she forcefully pried open Luo Jiaorong's hand, hurriedly covered her face and head, and fled in a panic.

Luo Jiaorong stood with her hands on her hips, laughing exceptionally wantonly amidst the crowd.

At this moment, the Scholar Nameplates stamped with the Prefectural Office's seal had also been expedited and finished, and they began to be distributed into everyone's hands.

Prefect Xu Songwen distributed them personally, offering words of encouragement to each person.

After Luo Zijun received the Scholar Nameplate that symbolized his status, he was pulled along by his sister and left with her high-spirited, arrogant steps.

"Sister, why don't you go back first, and I'll go help at the Pharmacy?"

"What Pharmacy? You are a scholar now! Study hard at home; you still have the Academy Examination in a month! Don't you want to enter the Academy?"

Luo Jiaorong looked at him very strangely.

This child, he was already a scholar and a man of letters, yet he was still thinking about doing that manual labor; had he studied himself silly?

"I promised Master. Besides, we cannot be ungrateful. When Sister begged Master to take me as an apprentice, you said all the right things. If I leave the moment I pass the scholar exam, it really wouldn't be justifiable."

Luo Jiaorong looked at him very seriously for a while, then suddenly asked, "Zijun, tell your sister honestly, have you taken a fancy to that girl in the shop?"

Luo Zijun hurriedly shook his head.

A smile appeared on Luo Jiaorong's face, and she whispered, "That girl is indeed pretty; her face, her figure, her skin—they are countless times better than that Sun Family miss. And she has a large chest and a perky bottom; she will surely be easy to bear children with in the future. I didn't dare think too much about it before because we were asking for favors and living under someone else's roof; I was afraid they would misunderstand that our family was coveting their pharmacy. It's different now; you have already passed the scholar exam. If you like her, Sister will go help you propose tomorrow!"

Luo Zijun was between laughter and tears: "Of course not, I just treat her as a senior apprentice-sister."

Luo Jiaorong blinked her eyes and said, "Really? Then when you were dreaming last night, why were you clutching the quilt between your legs and saying, 'Senior apprentice-sister, your chest is so big'?"

Luo Zijun: "..."

"Haha, Sister is just teasing you. Go on, go on. We indeed cannot be ungrateful like the Sun Family. You are grown up now; you should make your own decisions about such matters."

Luo Jiaorong smiled and rubbed his head. Seeming afraid he would be embarrassed, she waved her hand and walked away laughing.

Luo Zijun's cheeks burned.

Did he really talk in his sleep last night? Did he really say that?

That's impossible.

His immunity to women now—even if he didn't have ten-tenths of his cultivation, he should at least have nine-point-nine, right?

Sister must be joking.

He comforted himself this way and went to the Pharmacy.

As soon as he entered the shop, his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the counter.

Su Qingling was wearing a plain white dress, leaning over with her bottom raised, lying there. Her towering chest was proudly placed on the table, and her hand was propping up her chin as she seemed to be daydreaming.

That appearance, that expression, that posture—it was pretty, quiet, and alluring.

Su Qingling seemed to have caught his gaze. Just as she was about to speak, Luo Zijun preemptively struck: "Senior apprentice-sister, can you be more careful in the future? Every time I come in, I see you displaying your chest on the counter. How bad it looks when customers come in and see that."

Who knew that Su Qingling would say expressionlessly, "I only do this when you come in."

Luo Zijun: "??? Why?"

Su Qingling said coldly, "Because Grandfather previously said he would give you eighty wen a month, but I said fifty wen was enough. As for the remaining thirty wen, I'll let you look at my chest every day—one wen a day."

Luo Zijun: "..."

"Anyway, you can only look and get anxious, and I can save thirty wen. What a bargain!"

Su Qingling extended her slender, onion-white fingers to fiddle with the abacus. She seemed somewhat proud, and a strand of hair at her temple hung by her reddened lips, looking exceptionally alluring.

Luo Zijun was speechless.

"Um, where is Master? Did he go out again?"

He had no choice but to change the subject.

Su Qingling lowered her head to fiddle with the abacus and ignored him further.

"Then I'm going to read."

Luo Zijun went inside.

Some of the books Su Bie had sent over last time still contained many knowledge points.

They should be useful for the Academy Examination.

"Did you not pass?"

At this moment, Su Qingling walked over and asked.

Luo Zijun raised his head and said, "What do you mean, didn't pass?"

Su Qingling said, "The scholar exam. Didn't you go to take the scholar exam today?"

"How do you know I didn't pass?"

"If you had passed, you wouldn't have come here today; you should have gone home to celebrate, right?"

Su Qingling said with certainty.

Luo Zijun decided to tease her, so he lowered his head and said nothing more.

Su Qingling looked at his expression and snorted coldly, "I said it before, you aren't cut out for studying. Since you came to study medicine, you should study medicine seriously. Suddenly you want to go take the exam for a Cultivated Talent? Do you think a Cultivated Talent is so easy to pass? Others have been studying since they were children before they dare to take the exam. What about you? How many days have you actually studied?"

Luo Zijun still did not speak.

Su Qingling looked at him a few more times, sat down in front of him, placed her towering twin peaks on the table again, and said very generously, "Seeing you so sad, I'll let you look openly for a while today."

Luo Zijun's mouth twitched, and he said, as if possessed, "Can I look at your feet again?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he wanted to slap his own mouth.

Why wouldn't this mouth listen to him? Did it have a consciousness of its own?

Su Qingling was startled upon hearing this, then narrowed her eyes: "Look at my feet?"

Luo Zijun was just about to say "I'm joking," but who knew Su Qingling would suddenly say, "Then lower your head."

Luo Zijun lowered his head to look.

"Ah!"

A miserable shriek.

He covered his eyes. Su Qingling had a cold face, clenched her fist, and said coldly, "That's for being lecherous!"

After saying this, she got up and went to the front desk, ignoring him further.

It was almost evening.

Su Bie came into the shop with a smile, waving a folding fan in his hand. As soon as he entered, he cupped his hands in congratulations: "Congratulations, congratulations! Congratulations to Brother Luo for passing the Cultivated Talent exam today. I said it, with Brother Luo's talent, wouldn't this title of Cultivated Talent be easy to obtain?"

Su Qingling, who was clicking an abacus at the counter, turned her head to look at someone immediately upon hearing this.

Luo Zijun pretended not to see her gaze and hurriedly invited this Young Master Su to sit, served tea, and prepared to ask about the Academy.

At the same time, he probed for information about Xu Xian's recent situation.

Hearing that there were no beautiful women around Xu Xian recently, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"There are three academies in Lin'an City, one in the Inner City and two in the Outer City. Since we live in the Outer City, we naturally attend the academies in the Outer City. The academies in the Outer City are called Linfeng Academy and West Lake Academy."

"Both academies have their own strengths and weaknesses, and their recruitment of students is very strict. However, if it is a woman who knows how to read and write, she can enter the school by spending some money. Men, on the other hand, need to pass the Academy Examination, or have great fame to be admitted as an exception..."

!

Su Bie spoke everything he knew without reservation.

Luo Zijun listened very seriously.

Su Qingling rested her chin on her hand, sitting behind the counter in a daze. Her long, onion-white fingers were unconsciously clicking the abacus on the table, and her thoughts had flown off to who knows where.

The proud, towering pair on her chest were already hidden beneath the counter.

At this moment, Su Bie secretly glanced at her and suddenly whispered, "Brother Luo, let me ask you something."

Luo Zijun said, "Please speak, Brother Su."

Su Bie lowered his voice and said, "Does this Su Guniang have a sweetheart? Or is she already betrothed?"

Luo Zijun did not answer immediately.

Su Bie gave a dry laugh and said, "I have a friend who fell in love with this Su Guniang at first sight, so... hehe, he begged me to come and ask."

Inventing a friend, are we?

Luo Zijun exposed him directly: "That friend of Brother Su's, wouldn't that be Brother Su yourself?"

Su Bie gave a hehe laugh, rubbed his hands, and said, "Please help me out, Brother Luo."

Just as Luo Zijun was about to speak, the abacus on the counter suddenly started clattering, and then Su Qingling's icy voice came: "We are closing."

This was a dismissal.

Su Bie could only smile awkwardly, stand up, and cup his hands to take his leave.

When he reached the door, he suddenly turned around and said, "Right, Brother Luo, I almost forgot the main business. Three days from now, there will be a Literary Gathering on West Lake. I plan to invite Brother Luo to attend and meet some other friends. Also, Brother Xu Xian will go too."

Once these words were spoken, Luo Zijun's heart was suddenly filled with joy, and he hurriedly said, "I will definitely go."

West Lake? Xu Xian?

Tsk tsk, by then, wouldn't I be meeting Bai Niangzi and Xiao Qing?

"Then it's settled, Brother Luo. Three days from now in the evening, I will wait for you by the Xihu Broken Bridge. Don't be late."

Su Bie stole another glance at the young girl inside the counter and waved goodbye.

Luo Zijun saw him out of the shop, stood at the door, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

If Bai Niangzi appears this early, I'm afraid this matter will be difficult to handle.

Just as he was about to turn back into the shop, the wooden door behind him suddenly slammed shut with a "pop," and the bolt was slid into place.

Luo Zijun was stunned: "Hey, Senior Sister, what are you doing?"

No one responded from inside.

Luo Zijun waited for a while longer, muttered a few words, and prepared to go home.

At this moment, Su Qingling's cold voice suddenly came from inside: "Master Cultivated Talent, walk slowly."

Luo Zijun could only say to the inside: "Senior Sister, I was just teasing you earlier, I didn't mean anything else, I apologize to you."

"I wouldn't dare, you are a Master Cultivated Talent now."

"You are still the Senior Sister of a Master Cultivated Talent; in front of you, a Master Cultivated Talent is nothing!"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true."

The door suddenly opened again.

Su Qingling stood in the doorway, tall and beautiful, looking at him coldly: "Then come in and let me pinch your butt."

Luo Zijun: "..."

Does this girl have a problem? An unmarried girl, and she likes to pinch people's butts all day long? What about propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame?

"What, you're not willing?"

"Senior Sister, then can I also pinch your butt?"

"Heh, you want to try?"

It's not like I haven't tried before!

Luo Zijun lifted his foot and entered the room.

Su Qingling immediately pinched his butt, glaring at him with cold, sharp eyes as she said, "If you dare to fight back, I, ah—"

Luo Zijun did not hesitate and immediately pinched her butt as well.

"Luo Zijun! You actually dare... I'll pinch you to death!"

"Senior Sister! You actually dare... I'll pinch you to death too!"

"Ah..."

The two of them let out cries of pain in unison.

In order not to affect the neighbors and the reputation of the Pharmacy, the two of them even reached out together to close the door, then continued to pinch each other.

From inside the room, discordant sounds of a man and a woman came out from time to time.

When Su Dafang returned carrying the Medicine Chest, the room door happened to open, and Luo Zijun came out of the room limping, clutching his butt.

Su Qingling, meanwhile, was slumped over the counter clutching her butt, her hair disheveled, groaning.

"Master, Senior Sister pinched my butt!"

Luo Zijun immediately took the lead in complaining, even turning his butt around to show him: "Look, she pinched it until it bled, my pants are even red."

That girl's fingernails are truly sharp.

Su Qingling, inside, clutched her butt and hissed, "Grandpa, beat him to death."

Su Dafang looked at the two's postures, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he waved his hand, saying, "You two continue, I'm going back first."

Having said that, he didn't even enter the shop, directly turning around and heading home with the Medicine Chest on his back.

(End of chapter)